Apparatus for applying filmed images to punched cards and components for such apparatus

ABSTRACT

A cassette for holding a spool or strip of film for use with apparatus for applying images on the film separately to punched cards. The cassette has a spool holder and its own film guide consisting of a slot located between the front wall of the cassette and a guide part. Film from a spool is fed into the slot via an opening in the front wall.

nited States Patent Spiroch et a1.

[ Dec. 11, 1973 APPARATUS FOR APPLYING FILMED IMAGES TO PUNCIIED CARDSAND COMPONENTS FOR SUCH APPARATUS Inventors: Franz Spiroch, Coburg;Heinz G.

()stwald, Frankfurt, both of Germany Eichner Organisation KG, Coburg,Germany Filed: Oct. 21, 1971 Appl. No.: 191,325

Assignee:

Foreign Application Priority Data Oct. 29, 1970 Germany P 20 53 035.2

US. Cl 242/55.53, 226/92, 226/127, 242/71.1

Int. Cl B6511 19/02 Field of Search 242/197, 71.1, 55.53, 242/195;226/127, 92

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Wanders 242/55.53

2,930,610 3/1960 Swartz 226/127 X 3,341,146 9/1967 Fairbanks et a1.242/71.1 3,408,019 10/1968 Wells 242/71.1 3,604,657 9/1971 lgarashi242/197 655,196 8/1900 Church et a1 242/55.2 3,119,574 1/1964 Laa242/195 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 355,963 8/1921 Germany 242/7l.1

Primary Examiner-George F. Mautz Assistant Examiner.lohn M. JillionsAttorney-H. Dale Palmatier [57] ABSTRACT A cassette for holding a spoolor strip of film for use with apparatus for applying images on the filmseparately to punched cards. The cassette has a spool holder and its ownfilm guide consisting of a slot located between the front wall of thecassette and a guide part. Film from a spool is fed into the slot via anopening in the front wall.

1 Claim, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTED DEC 1 1 I975 SHEET 2 OF 2 1N\"ENTORS APPARATUS FOR-APPLYING FILMED IMAGES TO PUNCHED CARDS ANDCOMPONENTS FOR SUCH APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION nizationsystems. In the preparation of written inform ation the practice df'irecording the documents as pictures on films and of gumming the film ona punched card is increasing in order to reduce'the amount of spacerequired for storing documents or the like.

The punched card itself carries all the details for ex ample source,publication date and the like relating to the information. Manually orautomatically operated apparatus. for applying filmed images to punchedcards is known. In the case of the manually operated apparatus, eachindividual filmed image is separated from a roll or strip by means of. acutting-off mechanism and iscaused to adhere by pressure at a preparedposition on the. punched card which is introduced into the apparatus andremoved therefrom manually.

Automatically operated apparatus carry out .the above-mentioned steps inan automatic sequence, so that the rate of operation can be greatlyincreased.

In the case of both types of apparatus, it is difficult and timeconsuming to'fit the leading end of the film into theguide forthe film,and this operation requires considerable dexterity.

An object of the. invention is to'provide a holder for the roll or stripof film which facilitates the guiding of the end of the roll-.or stripinto the apparatus for applying to punched cards images which have beenseparated from the roll or strip of film.

Another object is to provide a holder which can readily be changed fromone roll or strip to another when desired. This last mentionedrequirement can arise for example when a stack-of punched cards to whichfilm is to be attached is prepared but the associated filmed images arelocated on different spools. It is then required to keep the punchedcards in order so that a spool of film that has only just been startedmight have to be removed from the apparatus and a new one introducedinto it if'the filmed image associated with the next'punched card iscontained in another spool of film.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the invention, there is provided acassette which is separate from the apparatus and which accommodatesthespool or strip of film and may be fitted into the apparatus, and byequipping this cassette with its own film guide means for guidingorthreading the film, which means is positioned in alignment with thefilm guide in the apparatus after the cassette has been inserted intothe apparatus.

When the cassette is removed, the leading end of the film can be veryeasily and conveniently introduced intothe film vguid'ein the cassettewhere the leading end may be clamped. Thereafter the cassette isintroduced into the apparatus and'the film is advanced to an extent suchthat itpasses into another film guide in the apparatus and into the feeddevice provided. The arrangement may be suchthat the distance betweenthat side of the cassette from which the film emerges and a plungermechanism for gumming the film images on a punched card is very short sothat when the spool of film is changed, only a short length of film hasto be pushed back, and this can be readily accomplished by forming aloop within the cassette. Back winding of the film is thus unnecessary,and the cassette can be readily and quickly exchanged for another one.

In a preferred form of the apparatus of the invention the film guide inthe cassette takes the formof a slot which extends parallel with thefront wall of the eassette. This arrangement is advantageous since thefilm must in any case be guided near the front wall of the apparatus sothat the individual film images can be seen to be in alignment with thecut-away portion of the punched card. This arrangement however offersthe further advantage that the slot is accessible over part of itslength through an opening in the front wall of the cassette. After thecassette has been inserted in the apparatus, the leading end of the filmcan thus be held by the finger or a roller from the outside and advancedover the short distance necessary for enabling the leading end to beengaged by the feed device inside the apparatus. Here, it is desirablethat the leading end of the film should not be released from the slotagain during insertion of the cassette into the apparatus but becausethe wound film in the cassette applies a certain tensile force to theleading end of the film introduced into the slot, rather in the mannerof a helical spring, there may be provided a plug of foamed plasticsmaterial in one of the side faces defining the slot, which plug bearsagainst the inserted film while undergoing resilient deformation. Inthis way, the leading end of the film is lightly gripped whichnevertheless suffices to prevent the leading end of the film fromwithdrawing from the slot again. The pressure is however small enoughboth to prevent movement of the film and to avoid its being damaged bythe pressure of the plug. dr

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a semi-schematic illustration of asection transverse of the axis of the film spool on line 1-1 of FIG. 3and through that portion of the apparatus of the invention foraccommodating the cassette;

FIG. 2 shows a view of the cassette along in the direction of the arrow2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a partial section on line 33 of FIG. 1 showing how afilm-advancing device is fitted in the cassette; and

FIG. 4 is a partial view of the film-advancing device in the directionof the arrow 4 of FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The only parts of the actualfilm attachment means shown in FIG. 1 are the frame portions 10 whichserve for guiding the cassette 12 when it is inserted in the apparatusand feed means for feeding the film into the apparatus. The remainder ofthe apparatus is well known and will not be described or illustrated.The cassette 12 has a peg 14 for accommodating a film spool 16, this pegbeing secured to the base plate 18 of the cassette in a manner notillustrated in the drawing. The cassette also comprises sidewalls 20 and22 by means of which the cassette is guided and held in the apparatus.The sidewalls 20 and 22 or at least a part thereof bear for exampleagainst the frame portions 10 of the apparatus.

In the construction illustrated the cassette also has a rear wall 24which, however, is not essential.

As shown, the film 26 is inserted into the apparatus by being wound offthe spool 16, or it can be introduced into the apparatus as a strip 28which carries a number of images. The cassette has a film guide whichextends over the entire width of the front wall 32 of the cassette 12.The guide takes the form of a slot 30 which is created by a milled-outportion 34 in a guide part or plate 36, the slot being covered by thefront wall 32.

The guide part 36 has a cut-away portion or opening 38 in the zone ofthe optimum wind-off angle for the roll of film, and the film 26 isintroduced into the film guide 30 through this cut-away portion.

The cut-away portion or opening 40 in the front wall 32 enables thefilm, after the cassette has been introduced into the apparatus throughthe front wall, to be advanced using the thumb for example, so that theleading end of the film moves into the zone in which it can be engagedby the feed means 42, 44. This feed means does not constitute part ofthe subject matter of the present invention and is therefore notillustrated in detail. Through the cut-away portion 40 in the front wall32, it is possible to observe whether a film is located in the cassette.

In order to prevent damage to the sensitive microfilm due to rubbingduring insertion of the film into the feed means or during itswithdrawal therefrom, the cassette is provided with a film-advancingmeans which provides this feed. The film-advancing means consists of amember 46 which is guided in a slot 50 with the aid of two pins 48 andis fitted in the front wall 32 of the cassette 12 near the opening 40.Secured to the bottom of the member 46 is a rubber strip 52 which bearslightly against the film 26. By moving the member 46, the film isadvanced in the direction of feed until it reaches the film-feed device.When a cassette in which film is still contained is removed, thisprocedure takes place in the reverse sequence. When changing cassettesin which some film still remains, the film is prevented from falling outof the cassette by the light pressure exerted by the rubber strip 52 onthe film 26 and the guide part 36.

What is claimed is:

1. A cassette for holding film comprising in combination,

means supporting said film and including a base plate having a postthereon and a film spool rotatably mounted on the post, the base platehaving a front edge and the film extending off the spool and along saidedge at an oblique obtuse angle therewith,

film guiding and threading means for guiding said film for movement fromsaid cassette and including an upright slotted wall extending along andaffixed to the front edge of the base plate and having an inner face toconfront a portion of the film extending from the spool, the slottedwall including a film dispensing slot extending end-wise through thewall and intermediate the thickness of the wall to entirely encompassthe film, the discharge end of the slot opening through the end edge ofthe wall at one side of the base plate, the slotted wall having anenlarged film entrance opening through the inner face thereof andextending significantly along the wall to facilitate ready and easyfeeding of the end of the film therein, said entrance openingcommunicating with the dispensing slot for guiding the film thereinto,and the slotted wall also having an outer face with a window openingtherein and communicating with the slot to facilitate manualmanipulation of the film in the slot whereby to move the end of the filmoutwardly from the discharge end of the slot and to withdraw the filminwardly of the discharge end of the slot, the window opening alsocommunicating with the film entrance opening and the window opening alsohaving a width significantly less than the width of the slot andentrance opening to thereby define a film supporting ledge co-extensivewith the slot and at opposite sides of the entrance opening to carry andguide the respective side edges of the film into the slot, and

film advancing means fitted to said front wall for the purpose ofadvancing film in the cassette towards the discharge end of thedispensing slot, said filmadvancing means including a resilientlyyieldable and soft strip in said window opening and with one sideprotruding slightly into the dispensing slot to engage the film andrestrain relative movement between the strip and film, and a mountingplate secured to the slotted wall and mounting the yieldable stripthereon, said plate having elongate mounting slots therein extendinglongitudinally of the dispensing slot, and retainer pins on the slottedwall and extending through the mounting slots of the plate for retainingand guiding the plate along the slotted wall.

1. A cassette for holding film comprising in combination, meanssupporting said film and including a base plate having a post thereonand a film spool rotatably mounted on the post, the base plate having afront edge and the film extending off the spool and along said edge atan oblique obtuse angle therewith, film guiding and threading means forguiding said film for movement from said cassette and including anupright slotted wall extending along and affixed to the front edge ofthe base plate and having an inner face to confront a portion of thefilm extending from the spool, the slotted wall including a filmdispensing slot extending end-wise through the wall and intermediate thethickness of the wall to entirely encompass the film, the discharge endof the slot opening through the end edge of the wall at one side of thebase plate, the slotted wall having an enlarged film entrance openingthrough the inner face thereof and extending significantly along thewall to facilitate ready and easy feeding of the end of the filmtherein, said entrance opening communicating with the dispensing slotfor guiding the film thereinto, and the slotted wall also having anouter face with a window opening therein and communicating with the slotto facilitate manual manipulation of the film in the slot whereby tomove the end of the film outwardly from the discharge end of the slotand to withdraw the film inwardly of the discharge end of the slot, thewindow opening also communicating with the film entrance opening and thewindow opening also having a width significantly less than the width ofthe slot and entrance opening to thereby define a film supporting ledgeco-extensive with the slot and at opposite sides of the entrance openingto carry and guide the respective side edges of the film into the slot,and film advancing means fitted to said front wall for the purpose ofadvancing film in the cassette towards the discharge end of thedispensing slot, said film-advancing means includIng a resilientlyyieldable and soft strip in said window opening and with one sideprotruding slightly into the dispensing slot to engage the film andrestrain relative movement between the strip and film, and a mountingplate secured to the slotted wall and mounting the yieldable stripthereon, said plate having elongate mounting slots therein extendinglongitudinally of the dispensing slot, and retainer pins on the slottedwall and extending through the mounting slots of the plate for retainingand guiding the plate along the slotted wall.